AFNOR certification

AFNOR labels: what is it?

The French Association for Standardization (AFNOR) awards labels that attest to the exemplary nature of the will of a public or private institution, according to strict specifications constituted by the State, the professions and the social partners. Labels are both methodological guides and emulation tools to further strengthen equal rights.

An AFNOR label is obtained for four years, and an interim mid-term audit checks the effective application of the planned action plans.

The Ministry of Culture is the first of the ministries to have obtained, in October 2017, the label "Alliance", that is to say the meeting of the two labels "Equality of professional women and men" and "Diversity" of AFNOR, evidence of its voluntary and manifest commitment to these principles.

A Senior Diversity-Equality Officer and a specific and cross-cutting mission, the Diversity-Equality Mission, design, coordinate and animate the implementation of the action plan provided for in the context of labelling.

Thanks to labels

Through its application for AFNOR certification, the Ministry of Culture has developed various procedures and tools in order to guarantee equal opportunities for all actors and actors of culture; to combat discrimination and harmful stereotypes in the arts, culture and cultural institutions; and to spread these principles of respect for others and non-discrimination in all their structures and in all the cultural fields for which they are responsible.

Inventory:

The Department is developing its self-assessment capacity. A biennial survey collects directly from officers their perception of discrimination and the risks they consider to be major. The Human Resources Department carries out regular social reports and comparative situation reports which enable the situation to be examined. An academic study on career paths is being carried out.

Social Dialogue:

The ministry has a Memorandum of Understanding on equality between women and men, signed in November 2018 with all trade union organisations. It provides for an action plan on the training of staff, the access of women to positions of responsibility, better reconciliation of personal and professional time, the reduction of gender pay inequalities, and prevention of harassment and gender and sexual violence. Read here the article on the signing of the Protocol {web}.

Internal Communication:

Officers and students under the Ministry of Culture receive regular communications or invitations to events on the theme of equality or diversity. The Ministry’s women’s network, Culture'Elles, organizes mentoring sessions as well as conferences and presentations on the theme of equality.

Human Resources:

Voluntary managers of prevention of discrimination are present in each institution of the Ministry and in each direction of the central administration. They are organized in a network and trained specifically on these issues, and soon on the issues of violence and harassment. Support staff are also trained, and proposals for similar training exist for all staff.

Violence and harassment:

The labelling process has helped to structure the internal and external strategy for combating violence and sexual and sexist harassment based on a stronger knowledge of risks or problematic situations, to combat denial and free speech. All officers, as well as all students of Culture higher education, have access to a specialized external listening cell, which allows victims and witnesses who request it to obtain legal and psychological support. The Department professes zero tolerance for these types of incidents.

In cultural policies:

The Ministry of Culture has chosen to apply its policy of pursuing equality and non-discrimination not only to its services and institutions, but also to the whole field of cultural policies, which organize and disseminate art and culture. Read here a summary of ongoing projects in cultural policies {web}.

In other structures

With the support of the Ministry of Culture, each school of higher education Culture, each public institution dependent on its tutelage and each service with national competence are encouraged to prepare their application for double certification by AFNOR. The Diversity and Equality Mission of the Ministry of Culture accompanies all institutions in their labeling process and also supports all cultural institutions that wish to benefit from its experience in applying for the Equality and Diversity labels. The Ministry benefits in these steps of the accompaniment of the consulting firm Altidem.

The 12 public institutions holding the Alliance (Equality + Diversity) label on 16 April 2019:

• Cité de la Musique - Philarmonie de Paris,
• Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris,
• École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Saint-Étienne,
• École nationale supérieure d'arts de Paris-Cergy,
• Public establishment of the Palais de la Porte Doré and Museum of Immigration History
• Public establishment of the park and the great hall of the Villette,
• Comic opera,
• Paris National Opera,
• Meeting of the National Museums and the Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées,
• National Theatre of Chaillot,
• National Theatre of the Hill,
• Universcience.

Also holders of the Diversity label on 16 April 2019:

• National Monuments Centre,
• National School of Architecture of Versailles,
• National Heritage Institute,
• Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations,
• National Theatre of Strasbourg.